Wilted Rose
by Vani Jane
Summary: "Holy mother of- please don't tell me that fat balding old man is the guy I've been texting with!" Arthur decides to meet up with the guy he knew from a month of texting. Will true love blossom? Or chaos instead? And what's with the cakes on his doorstep?
1. Prologue: Parking On My Life

**Title: **Wilted Rose

**Series: **Axis Powers Hetalia

**Pairing: **America & England / Alfred & Arthur

**Rating: **T

**Genre: **Romance, Humour, Drama

**Warning: **Shounen-Ai, Human Names, Alternate Universe, Minor (in the beginning!)

**Disclaimer: **This is a work of fiction by a fan for fans. Axis Powers Hetalia rightfully belongs to Hidekaz Himaruya. Any resemblance to **_actual events or locales or persons__,_** living or dead, is entirely – PURELY – **_coincidental_**.

**Summary: **"Holy mother of- please don't tell me that fat balding old man is the guy I've been texting with!". Arthur decides to meet up with the guy he knew from a month of texting. Will true love blossom? Or will it be chaos, instead? And what's with the cakes that greet him on his doorstep?

**Author's Note:** It's imperative that readers read this note. This work of fiction is not entirely fictional. The backbone (plot) of this story is **_roughly_** based on one of my close friend's own true to life experiences with his ex-boyfriend. I don't intend to be loyal to his experiences - I will change some scenes, making them hotter and sexier to the best of my abilities.

**Prologue: **Parking On My Life

Arthur Kirkland, seventeen years old, stood quietly in the vast parking area in front of the mall with nothing but a nearly empty wallet in his pocket and his trusty cell phone clutched tightly on a sweaty hand.

This wasn't something the student body's vice-president would normally do. In fact, he'd never done this sort of thing before... sober and alone. He was never too keen on meeting strangers, despite his popularity, he was actually a shy guy. However, he wasn't really meeting up with a stranger. He wasn't sure.

He'd known the guy for roughly a month so they weren't exactly strangers but this would be the first time they'd ever meet up with each other. They had talked over the phone but they usually were texting. Yet Arthur couldn't help but consider this man, Alfred F. Jones, as a stranger.

All he knew about the older American was that he worked at a big-time gaming company and was assigned at the main office outside the city. He knew the man had a couple of siblings but that was as much as Arthur knew about Alfred's personal life.

Arthur did a google check on Alfred and found out he had graduated top of his class at the country's top university and was some kind of sports celebrity during his university years. A couple years after he graduated, he had funded a couple of charities for orphaned children and the elderly.

He was like a modern superhero and Arthur secretly admitted to himself that Alfred was one heck of a guy. It was accurate to say that Arthur had gotten a crush on the older American. But his practical mindset came into the picture and told him that it was too good to be true.

Someone of Alfred's level didn't magically pop out of nowhere to people like him. And despite google's help, there were tons of Alfred Jones' in the world. It might've been a different Jones!

**I'm here.**

Arthur stared at the message on his cell phone then looked around the immediate area. There was no one but an old and bald fat man going towards his way.

Arthur tensed and felt a heavy dose of dread over his shoulders. _Holy mother of- please don't tell me that fat balding old man is the guy I've been texting with!_

_**Where? I don't see you.**_

Arthur unconsciously gulped down the lump on his throat and eagerly waited for the reply while chanting a prayer in his head. He would high tail out of there if the old man was actually the Alfred Jones he'd been communicating with.

**I'm looking at you.**

Arthur felt the air leave him. The old man was staring at him! He was going to make a run for it, he was determined. He was not going to spend the rest of his wonderful day with some old unattractive bald man. No way in hell, earth or heaven.

The Briton pocketed his cell phone and was about to escape the clutches of a perverted paedophile when a red sports car blocked his path. The dark tinted glass was pulled down and the face of a young blonde man with the bluest of blue eyes hidden behind square frame glasses greeted him with an apologetic grin.

"Sorry for making ya wait, Artie." The handsome man spoke, "Hop in, I'm treating you to lunch."

At that moment, Arthur felt as if he'd been blessed by the heavens above. Alfred F. Jones was had the looks of an angel and _oh thank god_, he was young and had thick hair. Arthur hadn't realised he had been staring and that his mouth was hung open.

"Artie?" The angel spoke again, this time his brows were furrowed in confusion. "Hello, Artie? Wait, you _are _Arthur Kirkland, right?"

Those blue eyes quickly took a fearful glance towards the approaching old man and gulped, quickly looking back at the teenager in front of him. His blue eyes somewhat looking desperate and begging. _Dude, you better be Artie or else I'm stepping the gas!_

"U-Uh, y-yes!" Arthur coughed, slightly embarrassed for spacing out like that. "I-I'm Arthur... Uh... You—"

"Oh, thank God!" Alfred sighed, feeling a great weight being lifted from his chest. "I thought you lied to me about being a young university student and were in fact, an old man."

Arthur couldn't help but chuckle, he'd thought the same thing just a couple minutes ago!

Alfred grinned sheepishly as he waited for Arthur to stop his chuckling, "So, hop in and let's go grab some lunch."

Arthur quickly went around the car and shyly got in beside Alfred on the front as Alfred closed the window.

"So, where'd ya wanna eat?" Alfred asked as he manoeuvred them out of the parking area. "Don't worry about paying, Mister Vice-President. Lunch is on me."

Alfred winked at him and Arthur felt his legs turn to goo.

"'Sides, I made ya wait there." Alfred continued with a light shrug.

Arthur felt a strange tightening on his chest, he still hadn't gotten over how lucky he was. He could've been dreaming all this up and when he woke up-

"Artie?"

Immediately, Arthur snapped out from his thoughts but the jittery butterflies in his stomach were still there. "Uh, I-I don't know... You choose! I'm not picky with food – I eat anything!"

Well, he actually was picky but he didn't want Alfred to think that he was some kind high maintenance brat. He was an adult in an adult's world, obviously, he wouldn't want some whiny teenager.

"That's a hard order there, Mister Vice-President." Alfred teased and Arthur blushed. There was just something with the way the American said it. "Hmm... I'd usually go for McDonald's but I guess that'd be like having everyday-lunch. You're not allergic to any seafood are ya?"

Arthur shook his head, "Not that I know of..."

"Awesome!" Alfred grinned, "I'm treating ya to seafood for lunch – students don't usually eat proper, so ya better chow down today. You're too skinny."

Arthur frowned at that, he was not that skinny! He was still within his BMI safe zone!

Alfred chuckled lightly, "Hey, I was only trying to lighten the mood – you're being too quiet."

Arthur blushed again.

"You're not disappointed, are ya?" Alfred continued and suddenly gasped loudly, "Don't tell me ya wanted to be with that old guy instead?"

"Good God, no!" Arthur gasped, how on earth did the git get to that conclusion? "There's no way that I could possibly want to spend the day with that fat old _hairless _man!"

Alfred laughed and teased the youngster some more, "And here I thought your silence meant otherwise."

"I was just about to high tail out of there when I thought you were the old man that was staring at me!" Arthur frowned.

"But I told you I was a young twenty-six year old guy – no twenty-six year old could look that old."

"W-Well, you could've lied! There are plenty of those kinds of perverts going around these days! I'm only thankful it didn't turn out that way and that you ended up to be young and good-looking!"

_Shite. _Arthur's eyes widened as a blush decided to make its home on his cheeks. He couldn't believe he let his tongue slip like that!

"Is that so?" Alfred said with a smirk in his voice as he stopped the car to the red light. He turned to look at Arthur but the younger man had turned his head the other way to avoid looking at him.

Alfred reached his hand out to hold Arthur by the chin, forcing the youngster to face him. Just as Alfred had expected, Arthur's face was red with embarrassment. _Ah~ So cute..._

"Don't worry about it," Alfred said, slowly leaning forward towards Arthur.

Arthur's green eyes widened upon realising what Alfred was up to and closed shut the next second. He wanted to push the American off, this was harassment! But his body had gone stiff and at the back of his mind, there was anticipation.

"You're too cute yourself."

Arthur swore steam came out from his ears as Alfred's lips met with his for a short chaste kiss. When Alfred had pulled away for what seemed to be years later, Arthur let himself lean back on the chair, all strength lost. _Damn bastard... So... Hnnnggg..._

Alfred grinned at the lobster red face Arthur had on and turned to face the road just in time when the lights switched to green. Alfred pressed his foot on the gas, thinking of ordering a lobster for himself. A juicy red lobster.

He licked his lips, he couldn't wait for his lobster.

**TO BE CONTINUED**

**Author's Note: **OwO I wonder what I just did there~ My friend would so murder me if he found out I wrote about him~ But I couldn't let the inspiration pass~ It was either making a fanfic out of his life or submitting it to the TV station (Noypi readers, I'm talking about MMK. LOL.).

**Guys, please do leave a review or criticism! No flames, please! **This isn't over yet! And I promise you great things to happen to this fanfic – my friend continues to give me inspiration everyday with the stories of his love life so, if I ever forget about what should happen next, all I have to do is ring him a call. LOL.

Oh, and this is an USUK fanfic set in an alternate universe. So, I hope you don't mind me having Alfred and Arthur trading ages (well, not really but you get the picture).

To the readers who're awaiting for my other fanfics to be updated, please be patient. The first semester has just ended and I intend to be writing updates for my fanfics during the next few weeks. Please be patient! **I haven't given up on my Hetalia fanfics yet!**


	2. Chapter One: Rotten Council

**Title: **Wilted Rose

**Series: **Axis Powers Hetalia

**Pairing: **America & England / Alfred & Arthur

**Rating: **T

**Genre: **Romance, Humour, Drama

**Warning: **Shounen-Ai, Human Names, Alternate Universe, Minor

**Disclaimer: **This is a work of fiction by a fan for fans. Axis Powers Hetalia rightfully belongs to Hidekaz Himaruya. Any resemblance to **_actual events or locales or persons__,_** living or dead, is entirely – PURELY – **_coincidental_**.

**Author's Note:** I didn't realise this fic would get so much attention. (Despite having only seven reviews, there have been a lot of people who favoured and added this fic to their alert list!) Thank you very much, readers! Please, do continue reading and showing your support! Reviews motivate me to write and pester my friend for more information! XD (BTW, I changed the previous chapter to 'Prologue' – my bad!)

**Chapter One: **Rotten Council

Elizabeta Héderváry crossed her arms as her foot tapped on the tiled floor, a nerve on her forehead ready to pop in anger.

Elizabeta was at her fourth year in the university but she still had one year left before graduating. She only took a few subjects every semester to focus on her duties within the student council. Last year, she began her reign as the student council president while the years before that, she had been serving as the vice president in title – she was still the one calling the shots and the previous president couldn't say no to her.

"May I have everyone's attention, please?"

It seemed that no one but Amélie Bonnefoy and Arthur Kirkland were paying any attention to her, which was pretty much the norm when it came to their meetings.

Amélie was the council's treasurer for the sole reason that money seemed to multiply in her hands and the council terribly needed to pay their large debt from the past two years. She had also never lost a bet her entire life. Along with Arthur they were probably the only ones who took their jobs seriously within the council.

Arthur was the vice president under Elizabeta, he also shouldered most of the work that needed to be done. He was very efficient and responsible that everyone prayed he could make a difference within the council – especially after the antics Elizabeta had committed the past few years, the students hoped Arthur had the ability to tame the wild girl.

Feeling quite pissed at being ignored, Elizabeta grabbed the nearest object – that being a hardbound textbook which belonged to Amélie – and slammed it on the wooden desk. In an instant, the room fell quiet and all heads turned to the current student council president.

"Just because it's the first week of classes, it doesn't mean we should neglect our duties." Elizabeta scolded then looked to Angélique Bonnefoy, "Angé,"

Angélique was the younger cousin of Amélie and a close friend to Arthur ever since they were in high school together. After meeting Elizabeta when she entered the university, she was coaxed to join the student council and was glad to make new friends from other years. However, there were times when she would mix up her priorities – which, ever since meeting Elizabeta, was more often than not.

"Oh! Right! Right!" The tanned-skinned girl quickly got to her feet and took a whiteboard marker which she uncapped before writing something on the white board behind Elizabeta.

"This!" Elizabeta exclaimed as she pounded her hand on the board twice causing Angélique to jump and mess up her handwriting, "This is the urgent matter to which we gathered here today!"

"What the _bloody hell_, Beta?" Arthur exclaimed as Amélie quietly sighed beside him. The usually pale Briton currently sported a faint tint of red on his cheeks and steam seeping out his ears.

_**ARTHUR KIRKLAND'S NEW BOYTOY**_

"Angelica, I demand you erase that this instant!" Arthur ordered the secretary, calling her by her English name. When Angélique stuck her tongue at him playfully, Arthur glared at Elizabeta, "I thought we weren't to neglect our duties? This has nothing to do with our duties _at all_!"

Amélie adjusted her glasses before reminding everyone about their debt. "You shouldn't easily forget your huge de-"

Elizabeta cleared her throat loudly, clearly remembering her large debt. Then she turned to Arthur, completely forgetting about the debt, and waved a dismissing hand at Arthur. "Oh, calm down, Artie. Besides, you and Chun-Chun finished all the work, already."

"The name's Xiao Chun." A boy from the back of the room spoke up but was ignored by everyone with the exception of his sister, which irritated him.

Li Xiao Chun, Chun-Chun as he is affectionately called, was one of the few volunteer students. And like most of the volunteer students, he didn't like being in the student council. His main reason for joining, aside from the requirement that every student must join at least one organisation in order to graduate, was for his sister, who volunteered to join but was too shy to do so alone. Despite disliking the council, he helps out Amélie and Arthur most of the time when he isn't being dragged by his sister.

Li Xiao Mei, Mei-Mei to her friends, was the younger sister of Xiao Chun. She was befriended by Elizabeta that year and had immediately volunteered to join the student council but contrary to what her brother believes, she made her brother join along in hopes of having him open up to people.

"Which was supposed to be your paperwork, Miss President." Arthur frowned at the president – how on earth did she win the elections? "And don't call me that! It's Arthur!"

"Aw, don't be like that, Artie." Elizabeta cooed. Yet despite Arthur's glare only getting worse, Elizabeta was unaffected. "It's your fault anyway."

"What?" Arthur cocked a great brow, "Pray tell how did this become my fault?"

"Like, we tried calling you a zillion times the past month!" Feliks Łukasiewicz answered, pausing for a moment to blow on his freshly painted pink nails.

Feliks and Elizabeta had been best friends since Kindergarten and both have been inseparable, which was why Feliks had volunteered to act as the representative for the Arts Department. That and no one else wanted Feliks in their club. He was nearly useless to the council, he never did any proper paperwork and he violated the school dress code but he was the eyes and ears of the school, which always came in handy especially when Elizabeta caused yet another scandal, it was Feliks' job to make fake but believable rumours to cover up for any scandal the student council ends up in.

"You wouldn't like, pick-up so we thought you were like, dead or something." He paused once more to blow on his nails. "But if it weren't for like, pasta head over there-"

"_Va cagare!_" A brown-haired Italian student cursed from his corner in the room while the third year representative, Emma Janssen, went over to the Italian to calm him down.

Lovino Vargas, the rude Italian, had initially thought he could do something within the student council which was why he volunteered in the first place. However, after finding that his childhood bully, Elizabeta, was in it, he wanted to quit but Emma, his childhood crush and next door neighbour, had prevented him from doing so.

Emma Janssen was a close friend to Feliks and Elizabeta, having gone through high school together. She was forced to stop a whole year of schooling to help out her cousin with some business matters. When she returned to school, she was elected to be the representative for the Agricultural department. She acts as the mediator to most of the disagreements that happen within the council.

Used to the Italian's potty mouth, Feliks easily ignored the insult. "-like, he saw you eating dinner at the restaurant his _dziadek_ owns like, with a piece of fapilicious meat."

Arthur felt a migraine coming, as usual when it came to dealing with Feliks. He inhaled deeply, struggling to remain calm with the Polish student. "Feliks, just what the _hell _are you yapping about?"

Elizabeta rolled her eyes, "He means that Lovi saw you eating dinner with some hunk."

"Stop right there!" The Italian exclaimed, pointing an accusing finger at Feliks.

"Lovi! Calm down!" Emma gasped but her words fell to deaf ears.

"I did not say that! I only said I saw him eating with a man!"

"Like, duh, same thing." Feliks shrugged his shoulders.

"_Cazzo_! The hell it ain't!" Lovino gritted his teeth. "_Bastardo_, twisting my words like that!"

As Feliks and Lovino began their usual verbal argument with Emma trying to separated both boys and failing, Arthur began to massage his temples. He didn't know how to survive the rest of the school year with these idiots. He was about to blow his top off when a hand tapped his shoulder. He opened his eyes and saw his childhood friend, Priya Patel, apologetically smiling at him.

Priya had been Arthur's childhood friend and also a close friend to Angélique, the three of them usually hanging out together. With both her friends in the student council, she volunteered to become the representative for the Social Sciences Department. After joining the council, she had become good friends with Elizabeta, usually hanging out with her on weekends if she wasn't visiting Arthur.

"You all right, Artie?"

Arthur let out a heavy sigh, "I've been better."

Just then, another loud bang echoed through the room forcing everyone to shut up. Elizabeta was crossing her arms on her chest and tapping her foot angrily on the floor, restraining herself from kicking and murdering the table.

"If you came here just to waste my time, then get the hell out or I'll shove a frying pan up your ass." Elizabeta threatened, effectively scaring the shit out of everyone because they knew she wasn't joking.

When everyone remained quiet, Elizabeta took that as a chance to proceed. A grin spreading across her face, "Good. Now, let's get back to the issue at hand- Artie's boytoy!"

"Bah!" Arthur threw his hands up, "Beta, this is ridiculous! There's no such-"

**YOU GOT ONE MESS-**

**YOU GOT TWO ME-**

**YOU GOT THREE MESSAGES!**

In the next second, Arthur, Feliks and Elizabeta pounced on Arthur's school bag, each determined to get the cell phone before the other.

Arthur believed he had the upper hand over Feliks but the cross-dressing boy turned out to be far stronger than he appeared, easily pushing Arthur away towards Elizabeta, who then held Arthur by the arms to keep him from tackling Feliks.

As Arthur struggled to be freed from Elizabeta's unladylike hold, Feliks rummaged through the bag for the gadget.

"Unhand me!" Arthur demanded, "This is against school law! This is hazing! Unhand me this instant!"

"Found it!" Feliks happily announced as Arthur began to struggle harder but Elizabeta was as strong as the rumours say.

Feliks began clicking on the black-coloured gadget, navigating to the inbox, no doubt. After a few seconds, Feliks beamed which wasn't a good sign for Arthur.

"_Ohhh!_" Feliks squealed and flashed the phone's screen to Elizabeta. "Like, three messages from a heart Alfred Jones!"

The girls around them, including Feliks but excluding Amélie, burst into a giggle slash squeal fit as Arthur felt the urge to massacre all the student council members. But no matter how much he struggled, Elizabeta's hold on him didn't falter.

"Feliks, you git, put that down this instant!" Arthur ordered angrily.

"Like, no way, Artie." Feliks giggled, "This is like, too juicy to pass up!"

"I swear, I will murder you, Feliks, if you do not put that down!" Arthur threatened but Feliks ignored him and decided to read the messages aloud.

"'_Artie, text me if your meeting's over_'." The moment Feliks finished, the squealing resumed as Arthur's face turned pink from embarrassment.

"What does the next one say?" Kiku Honda, the ever quiet Japanese student, asked and Arthur couldn't believe his ears- how dare Kiku betray him like this?

Kiku was the auditor of the student council and had known Arthur ever since high school but hadn't been able to befriend him until they both entered the university. There had been rumours going on that he had known Elizabeta since grade school, but it was never really confirmed. But if the rumours were true, both had met online in some forum and had bonded over their love for mutual interests ever since. He was an efficient worker unless Elizabeta or Xiao Mei would drag him somewhere. He was also a distant cousin to the Li siblings.

"Like, hold on," Feliks said as he tapped a few buttons on Arthur's cell phone. He cleared his throat before causing more emotional stress on Arthur, "'_I miss you so bad, Artie._' Like, oh my gawd!"

A louder round of squeals erupted making Lovino and Arthur swear they'd turn deaf by the time this bullshit was over. Amélie, on the other hand, was prepared and brought out her trusty earplugs.

"Like, shush it, guys!" Feliks scolded about ten seconds later as he began tapping on the cell phone again. Before reading the next message, a cat-like smile spread across the young boy's face, "Like, Alfie says, '_Artie, I want to hear you panting my name like a bitch in heat. Let me call you. I can't stand it any more._'"

It seemed like the entire room began to squeal and squeal wildly, even Kiku couldn't contain his excitement, squealing like the rest of the girls in the room.

Lovino began cursing as he covered his ears to block the volume while Xiao Chun was unaffected by the loud shrieks- it was especially during times like these that he was grateful for all the firecrackers he used to play with as a child. However, he was quite embarrassed by his sisters behaviour.

"You dirty bastard!" Arthur's voice pierced through the loud shrieks, "There's no bloody way Alfred would send me a stupid message like that!"

"Don't be in denial, Arthur-san." Kiku spoke in his usually calm manner, suddenly appearing beside Arthur and placing what seemed to be a comforting hand on the Briton's shoulder. "It is all right, we understand and we all accept you for who you are."

"Go to hell!" Arthur exclaimed, his face red as Lovino's tomatoes. "Feliks, give me that blasted phone right this instant else I swear, you won't wake up tomorrow!"

Feliks just laughed it off, totally unaffected. When the squealing finally died down, the Polish student grinned teasingly like a cat, "Aw, come on, Artie. Like, can't you take a joke?"

"Fe—"

"Gah!" Feliks shrieked and the next moment, the room was silent as they stared at Arthur's now cracked cell phone.

"Feliks Łukasiewicz!" Arthur exclaimed in rage as the blonde man cringed and frantically went to retrieve the broken cell phone.

"Oh my gawd, Artie!" Feliks gasped, "I'm so so so sorry! I like, totally didn't mean it! It was an accident! It like, suddenly vibrated! And I like, oh my gawd, I'm _sooo _sorry!"

"Wanker!" Arthur glared, still being held back by Elizabeta but for different reasons now. "That could've been my Mum looking for me! I didn't tell her I'd be home late!"

"Well, if it like, makes you feel any better, it wasn't like, your Mum." Feliks said, not looking at Arthur, "Like, Alfred's last message said that he'd like, call you, so... like, that was Alfred calling and not like, your Mum or anything."

The room fell to another round of silence before Arthur turned fully red on the face and glaring at Feliks as if wanting to murder the man.

"FELIKS! I WILL BLOODY MURDER YOU!"

**TO BE CONTINUED**

**Author's Note: **So, there wasn't much USUK or romance in this chapter – I'm truly sorry! But it was necessary to introduce the student council, they are whom you refer as Arthur's friends. They'll be popping up regularly from now on as they play small to big roles in Arthur's life. LOL.

The girls part of the student council, with the exception of Amélie, are actually all fangirls (as if that wasn't obvious). Feliks and Kiku are fanboys. XD BTW, the chapter title, yaoi fangirls or fujoshi would get what I mean by it. ;P

And if no one got which country is who, here's the list:

President: Elizabeta Héderváry (Hungary)

Vice President: Arthur Kirkland (England)

Secretary: Angélique Bonnefoy (Seychelles)

Treasurer: Amélie Bonnefoy (Monaco)

Auditor: Kiku Honda (Japan)

Arts Representative: Feliks Łukasiewicz (Poland)

Agriculture Representative: Emma Janssen (Belgium)

Social Sciences Representative: Priya Patel (India)

Volunteer 1: Li Xiao Chun (Hong Kong)

Volunteer 2: Li Xiao Mei (Taiwan)

Volunteer 3: Lovino Vargas (South Italy)

There's still one more member who hasn't been introduced yet – and I'll leave that up to you guys to guess who~ Hint: He's a first year student. :D

Ah, and at the moment, there is one main pairing (USUK) and four sub-pairings in this fic. You can check my profile to get a hint of what the other pairings could be. XD

Almost forgot the translations – if there are any mistakes, feel free to message me!

Va cagare (Italian): Piss off

dziadek (Polish): Grandfather

Cazzo (Italian): Dick (lit.) / Fuck / Shit

Bastardo (Italian): Bastard

I apologise for the lengthy note OTL – **please don't forget to leave a review or a critique!** Even something simple as "Nice story, please update!" is all right with me! 8D **Just no flames, please!**

_Sneak peak! For the next chapter, we're going to look into Alfred's side of the story for this day – which means, meeting two important people in his life – one male and one female. No, it's not his parents. 8P_


	3. Chapter Two: The Jones Siblings

**Title:** Wilted Rose

**Series:** Axis Powers Hetalia

**Pairing:** America & England / Alfred & Arthur

**Rating:** T

**Genre:** Romance, Humour, Drama

**Warning: **Shounen-Ai, Human Names, Alternate Universe, Minor

**Disclaimer:** This is a work of fiction by a fan for fans. Axis Powers Hetalia rightfully belongs to Hidekaz Himaruya.

**Author's Note: **I'm sorry for the long delay, my time had been totally consumed by school work. T_T But here's the second chapter and it's a bit lengthy. I hope you haven't given up on this fanfic – I may not update regularly but it's not going to die. **Happy reading! Please don't forget to leave a review after! 83**

**Chapter Two: **The Jones Siblings

Alfred tapped his ballpoint pen on his glass-covered desk. He sighed and scratched the side of his head before throwing himself back on his leather chair. This shouldn't be hard _at all_ – coming up with a mascot for the new line of toys was something his child-like eccentricity was good at. But recently, he was thinking less child-like and more rated M, uncensored.

He let out a frustrated groan, laying one side of his head on the desk, all he had been thinking about since he had arrived back home a week ago was Arthur. He had spent one of the most wonderful summers he'd ever had getting to know the younger male – something that should have surprised him but it didn't. He simply enjoyed the time he'd spent with the Briton.

Now, in every waking minute and otherwise, he was thinking of the kid. Oh, God. He was going to get fired at this rate.

"Alfie!"

Alfred's head shot up from where it had flattened itself on the desk, his baby blues met with an identical pair of baby blues.

"Maggie?" Alfred gaped as his little sister skipped into his office, her wedges clicking loudly on the the tiled floor.

"I tried to stop her." Matthieu, his younger brother, apologized as he followed Marguerite quietly.

Matthieu was Alfred's younger brother by a couple of years and while they shared almost mirroring looks, their hair being the only physical difference and Matthieu having _softer _looks, their personalities were quite different. Where Alfred was loud and all over the place, Matthieu was quiet and was usually in the background. Yet despite it, people still easily mistook them. Usually, it was only family members who could tell who was who.

"But I missed you so much, Alfie!" Marguerite exclaimed as she latched herself onto her oldest brother.

Marguerite was the baby of the family and because of that she usually got whatever she wanted which was why she was standing before Alfred even though both she and Matthew really should be at their respective schools where Matthieu was taking his masters in art and Marguerite was taking her bachelors in international studies. She resembled her brother Matthieu a lot but it was a contrast to her upbeat and bubbly personality that she got from spending most of her childhood with her big brother Alfred.

"What are you doing here?" Alfred asked after returning his sister's embrace. "What are the _both _of you doing here?"

"It's been a week since you arrived and you hadn't bothered even sending us one text message." Marguerite pouted, "Mattie and I missed you this summer – what on_ earth _have you been doing the past month? I thought you were ecstatic about the Caribbean trip!"

"I had some things to take care of." Alfred grinned apologetically at his sister, hoping that she wouldn't see through his lie. He didn't have the heart to tell his baby sister that he stood them up for his new love interest.

"I'll pretend to believe that." Marguerite said with a light tsk before wrapping her arm around Alfred's. "But you have to ditch this place and come along with us."

"I can't do that, Maggy." Alfred frowned, standing his ground as Marguerite began to pull him lightly. "I have work to do."

"Oh, pish." Marguerite waved her hand, "Uncle won't mind if you escort his favorite niece out for the afternoon, now would he?"

"Marg-"

"Tally ho!" Marguerite hooked an arm around each of her brothers' and proceeded to march out the office. Alfred let out a huge helping of a sigh as he let his sister drag him out while all Matthieu could do was smile helplessly. It was going to be a _long _day.

xxxxx

"-and she kissed him!" Marguerite snickered, Matthieu turning red as a cherry while Alfred grinned at his brother.

"Way to score, brah!" Alfred punched Matthieu on the shoulder, "I knew the Caribbean would be good for you!"

"B-B-But..."

"You really should've gotten her number, Mat." Marguerite sighed, "I mean, aren't you supposed to have a muse or something?"

"I didn't even speak her language, Maggie." Matthieu was still blushing, he never had been comfortable being put on the pedestal. "She was Spanish! Or something!"

"And you know French, same thing, you could've worked around that!"

"This coming from the international studies major." Matthieu shook his head with a sigh and turned to his brother, "Save me here, Al."

Alfred laughed, remembering Arthur and decided to keep that bit of information to himself for a while. "Sorry, bro. Either you or me and I'd rather it be you."

Matthieu frowned, shooting his brother with a glare. He had to turn the tables. "Hmm, weren't you hyped about the trip for years, Al? You really loved Captain Jack back in the day—something must have kept you, huh?"

Alfred cocked a brow at his brother, "Oh, you play dirty, little brother."

Matthieu smirked, a rare feat that only his siblings could see, "Right back at you."

Beside them, Marguerite snickered, now eyeing her oldest brother. "So, we come back to this—you've been evading the topic since this morning, Alfredo."

"I'm not some chicken, Maggie."

Marguerite grinned, "Oh, come on. Stop changing the topic—I bet my month's allowance that you had one of those hot summer affairs."

"Oh, God, you're not supposed to know about things like that!" Alfred gaped at who he considers his _baby _sister. "Maggie, that is just-"

"I'm eighteen, I'm _supposed_ to know these." Marguerite rolled her baby blue eyes.

"The Caribbean only made things worse." Matthieu sighed, "May be you should've taken up Literature or Writing. You're really into this one."

"I'm only _really into _what the best brothers in the world are up to." Marguerite fluttered her lashes at them playfully, "So, you can either tell me or I'll have to find out the hard way and it's about time you two realize that I always get what I want."

"Not this time." Alfred said with a tone that meant final. He could barely think about anything but Arthur and the last thing he needed was for his sister to be teasing and constantly reminding him about it.

However, nothing ever stopped Marguerite. "There are only two things in this world that can make you skip out on your family. One, it's Mickey D's. And secondly, it's love."

"This isn't a romance novel, Maggie."

"Of course, it's not. If it were, we wouldn't have Mickey D's on that list."

"She got you there, Al."

"And since we booked a hotel that's across a Mickey D, it's got to be love."

"Bugger off, you two."

"Ah, British, I see." Marguerite nodded and let the piece of information melt in her mouth like chocolate. "You were always a sucker for their stiff accents."

"It's soothing." Alfred argued before he could stop himself. Quickly remembering how Arthur would say his name.

"Sure." Marguerite played along, deciding not to point out the love struck look in her brother's eyes. "So, since Mom and Dad were with us the entire summer, you had the house all to yourself—I hope you cleaned up after."

"Maggie, that's disgusting." Matthieu wrinkled his nose before looking around, making sure no one heard her. "We're in a restaurant."

"Prudes." Marguerite sniffed but grinned a moment later, "Fine, I'll tone it down."

"Oh, please." Alfred agreed, trying to rid himself of the image of him and Arthur doing the deed. Epically failing when he realized that he _regretted _not thinking of doing it in the house where he had free reign for the past-

"Now, speak up, bro. Who is this English Rose?" Marguerite leaned forward, clearly she wasn't going to back down within this lifetime. Suddenly, she gasped, a scowl on her delicate features as she leaned back, "It's not-"

"No, of course not!" Alfred cut her off before she could finish, a frown on his face and his imaginations gone down the drain. "Maggie, you should know better."

Marguerite sighed in relief, her shoulders now relaxed. "I do know better, which is why I was worried. You think I don't know how many times you got out and back with-"

"That's enough, Maggie." Matthieu scolded lightly, sending Alfred an understanding look. "Alfred's over that, remember? He'll tell us if it's otherwise—right, Al? No secrets?"

"Right. No secrets." Alfred said with a nod.

"All right, I'll lay off. But no secrets, got it?" Marguerite pouted at her brothers.

"Of course," Alfred grinned, reaching over the table to pat his sister's head. It was so hard not to forgive her for anything, his sweet little sister. "I never keep anything from the both of you."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

"You swear on Mom and Dad and on your grave?"

"Jesus, Maggie. I do, okay?"

"Okie-dokie." A cat-like grin made its way to the young lady's face as she addressed her brother once more, "So, do tell about your English Rose."

Alfred cringed, and he thought he was out on the clear.

"Remember, Alfie, _no secrets_." Marguerite chirped, "It's bros before ho's, right?"

"You're my sister."

"It's the same thing, don't take it to it's literal context!" Marguerite groaned, at the edge of throwing her hands up in the air. "Come on, Al. Just spill the beans, let the cat out of the bag, lay it on us—who's this English Rose?"

Alfred looked at his sister, wide eyes begging and he faltered. He knew the powers of those baby blues and hated whenever they were directed at him. He let out a groan as he felt defeat take over him, "Fine. Yes. I had... met someone during the summer."

"_And?_" Marguerite pressed on, when Alfred didn't respond, she cocked an eyebrow at him. "You can't expect me to be satisfied with just that—this isn't enumeration, Al, this is an essay. You don't spill a bean, you spill beans."

Matthieu looked at his overly determined sister, too determined for his tastes that it was starting to scare him, and to his unusually quiet brother. He was about to put a stop to this when his brother sighed. It wasn't an ordinary sigh, it was a sigh that you usually see in movies with a love struck teenager.

"And it was like eating Cadbury sundaes." Alfred sighed once more, not looking at his siblings but on the varnished wooden table as if it were the most interesting thing in the whole world. Suddenly, he looked up and grinned so wide that it would've been scary if not for the dopey expression on his face, "It was definitely better than going on a pirate trip."

Marguerite turned to Matthieu and blinked, "He's got it bad."

Alfred lightly giggled and Matthieu cringed, "Oh, that's a definite."

"Cadbury sundaes are ten times better than hamburgers. It's really quite bad." Marguerite shook her head at Alfred, "He doesn't even hear us. God."

Suddenly, Alfred's cellphone buzzed to life, snapping him out of his daydreams. He quickly retrieved his cellphone, hoping that it was Arthur only to cringe when it was his secretary reminding him about his meeting in an hour.

"Oh, shit." Alfred cursed and got up on his feet, "I have a meeting! Shit shit shit."

"Then get going!" Matthieu gaped, "Al, how could you forget about something important like that?"

"Damn. I'll see you guys later at dinner." Alfred said, patting Matthieu on the shoulder and kissing his sister on the cheek. "Later!"

Quickly as his feet could take him, Alfred ran to the parking lot and into his car. He started up his baby and sped to the highway, only to be caught in the city's famous traffic. Oh, great. He was going to be late for the meeting and his boss, his uncle, wasn't going to fire him—he couldn't do that but he could totally cut his vacation days. Urgh. And he hoped to get to see Arthur again next month, too!

He took out his cell phone and fiddled with it, checking the time every second or two. One minute seemed to pass by too slowly and before he knew it, he was opening his messages and composing a new message.

_**Artie, text me if your meeting's over.**_

They had been exchanging messages earlier and Arthur had mentioned he had a meeting that afternoon. Alfred wasn't sure how he remembered Arthur having a meeting and forgetting that he, himself, had one, too.

Alfred wasn't also sure what came over him when he composed another message and sent it to Arthur.

_**I miss you so bad, Artie.**_

He stared at the message he had sent and blinked, had he really typed that down? Damn. It must be true since he didn't realize typing it down. He really did have it bad and to be honest, he wasn't sure if that was good or not but when it seemed that an hour had passed and not a single reply from the Brit, he sent another message.

_**Artie, I'm going to call you in few minutes.**_

The message was sent and he set his phone down on the empty seat beside him, waiting for a reply. He knew Arthur wouldn't allow him to call when he was on a meeting but Alfred was desperate for any sort of message from the guy.

Forever passed by and Alfred's hand darted to his cellphone and dialed Arthur's cell phone number.

_Ring... Ring... Ri- Toot-toot-toot..._

Alfred's let out a cry, staring at his phone. The call had been _cut_! Arthur had cut off the call! He felt his palms beginning to sweat at the thought of angering Arthur. Oh, Lord. He composed a new message and sent it immediately.

_**Artie, I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to call you. Text me when your meeting's over. Please. I'm really sorry. I just miss you. Don't be mad at me.**_

Since that text, he had refused to touch his cellphone, waiting _patiently _for Arthur's next message.

He had gotten out of traffic, still no reply. He had arrived at the office, still no reply. The meeting was halfway through and still no reply. The meeting was over and there _still was no reply_.

Just as he dragged himself out of his office chair and back to his car to go home, his cellphone buzzed and he quickly answered the call.

"I'm really sorry, I knew you had a meeting and I couldn't help but call—I'm really sorry. I just missed you so badly, please don't be mad at me."

"Alfred, what the fuck?"

"M-Maggie?"

"Dude, Matt and I have been waiting for nearly half an hour. Where are you? Dinner's running cold."

"U-Um..."

"But that's not important." Marguerite quickly said and Alfred could hear his brother gasping in the background. "What's this about you being sorry for calling?"

_Oh shit. _Now, he had no choice but to spill the beans to his baby sister. Not that Alfred minded, he needed to let some steam out and his siblings were the perfect people to whine and cry at without being judged.

"Maggie..." Alfred began the whining.

**TO BE CONTINUED**

**Author's Note: **Not much Arthur in this fic, at least, physically. Alfred is desperate. It'll be a couple more chapters (I think) until Alfred and Arthur are reunited but I'll be introducing the first sub-pairing in the next chapter, so please wait for it!

Marguerite was originally a Fem!Canada but she has morphed into a being that's physically Fem!Canada but in personality, a cross between Fem!America and Fem!Canada (at least, I like to think so... I don't know if I characterised her well).

Due to recent events, this story will be longer and a bit complicated. I will endeavour to do justice to it and to finish it. Please look forward to this one! 8D

**Thank you for reading, please leave a review before you leave, I'd appreciate it terribly. 8D**

I'd like to advise you guys to put this in your alerts list because I don't update regularly and it would be easier that way to track this story that way than to check my profile every day or so. 83

Shameless promotion-Please read and review my other Hetalia fics as well: _**Kiss Me Here**_, _**Minty Fresh**_, _**Melt**_, _**The Big News: Alfred & Arthur**_, _**World's End**_, _**The Big News: Francis & Matthieu**_, _**Nightmare**_, _**Choco Choco**_, _**Hung for Hungary**_, _**Just Another Meeting**_, _**Password Error**_, _**Creamed Trousers**_, _**The Best Man**_, _**Ring Tone**_, _**Concerned Brother**_, _**Happy Camping**_, _**Alfred's Hangover**_, _**Taste of Love**_, _**Possessive**_, _**Fetish**_, _**Lovino's Favourite Cap**_, _**Tokimeki Memorial World Edition**_, _**Public Display of Affection**_ and _**Dragon of The Sea**_


	4. Chapter Three: The Phone Shop

**Title:** Wilted Rose

**Series:** Axis Powers Hetalia

**Pairing:** America & England / Alfred & Arthur

**Rating:** T

**Genre:** Romance, Humour, Drama

**Warning: **Shounen-Ai, Human Names, Alternate Universe, Minor

**Disclaimer:** This is a work of fiction by a fan for fans. Axis Powers Hetalia rightfully belongs to Hidekaz Himaruya.

**Chapter Three: **The Phone Shop

Arthur scowled as he exited the taxi, followed by Priya, Angélique and the first year Sciences representative, Raivis Galante. Elizabeta had saddled Arthur with training Raivis the "ways of the council" despite knowing that Arthur was busy after classes.

"_Trust me, Artie." Elizabeta had told him earlier, "I have a good feeling about this!"_

Of course, Arthur knew it was going to turn out badly but he didn't have a choice and Raivis had to tag along with him to the mall to get his cell phone, the one that Feliks broke the previous day, fixed.

"Why can't you just buy a new phone?" Angélique asked Arthur as they stepped into the mall.

"Because my Mum would murder me." Arthur frowned, "She doesn't even know my phone's busted. I swear, I am going to make Feliks pay for this. That bastard."

Priya patted Arthur on the shoulder, trying to comfort. "Oh, don't be too hard on him, Artie. He didn't mean it. Besides, he volunteered to pay for the repairs."

Arthur's frown still hadn't disappeared from his face, "We wouldn't be having this predicament if he hadn't taken my phone out in the first place."

"If you were more honest, it wouldn't have happened." Priya teased lightly with a giggle.

"If you people weren't pricks, none of this would've happened." Arthur argued back as he saw the sign of the phone shop—iFixElectronix. "Come on, let's just get this over and done with. The sooner my phone is fixed the sooner-"

"The sooner you can talk to your boyfriend." Angélique nodded knowingly, making Arthur turn and see red. Angélique merely shrugged, grinning at Arthur, "What? You know it's true! And hey, it's not our fault you can't memorise his number."

"If you weren't a girl, I would've hit you." Arthur glared at the girl he had always considered to be his friend.

"I know, I'm abusing the special treatment." Angélique grinned and skipped ahead towards the shop.

Arthur sighed and followed her, then realised that Raivis had been quiet ever since they met at school early an hour ago. He turned to the short teen and smiled, "I hope you're not offended and regretting being part of the Council."

"No." Raivis shook his head, "It's all right. You are such lively people and it's fun to watch and listen. I've got nothing against gay people, either. I'm not entirely certain of my own preferences, but sexuality doesn't matter to me. Oops. I'm sorry."

"No, it's all right." Arthur shook his head, he wasn't openly gay and he had actually forgotten Raivis had been with them the entire time. Despite the kid's obvious word vomit, he could tell that Raivis meant what he said. Arthur chuckled, "I think you'll fit in just well, but you must try to speak up more often."

"I, uh, get that a lot." Raivis admitted, blushing lightly. "I'm not that tall and tall people usually intimidate me, I think it has something to do with my childhood experiences but I'm not sure about that. My Mother isn't exactly tall, either. She told me to make friends in college so I volunteered to be the representative. Elizabeta has been nice to me, too, but she's a bit scary. And Feliks, too."

"Raivis, you should relax a little, too." Priya pointed out softly at the younger boy. "We're not going to bite, even if Artie's eyebrows look like they would. They're perfectly harmless."

"What?" Arthur gasped, hands immediately going to his thick brows. He was always sensitive about the strips of hair on his fair, he was always teased about it. Despite it running in the family, his siblings never had any problem with their eyebrows – even if they were the same thickness.

"Oh, I see." Raivis nodded, turning to Priya. "They looked like they were eating his face, I wasn't actually quite sure if they were eyebrows-"

"_What?_"

"O-Oh, b-but they are truly a fine specimen of brows, sir." Raivis turned to Arthur, smiling nervously at the taller man. "I haven't seen anything else in the world like it!"

Priya laughed, putting an arm the younger student's shoulders. "I like you already!"

Raivis blushed, "U-uh, thank you. I like you, too. Oh, but not in that manner. Not that I'm saying that you're not interesting or attractive because you are attractive but-"

"Raivis, calm down." Priya reminded, patting him on the shoulder. "Oh, look, we're here—excuse me, we're here to have a phone fixed."

Arthur sighed, letting the whole eyebrows thing slide for now, he didn't want to scare off the freshman and it was quite obvious by the way Raivis flinched every time their voices was raised that Raivis was a gutless coward. Oh, well. Elizabeta would certainly fix that... or cause more trauma on the kid.

Raivis gulped, trying not to shiver while Priya was putting her arm around his tiny shoulders. He was never good with people, he didn't have many friends actually, he never really had any friends because he was being picked on a lot. And he hoped he hadn't offended Arthur, especially since the guy was forcefully saddled with taking care of him. Oh, the thought of Arthur actually being mad at him scared him.

"Raivis, calm down. No one's going to eat you alive." Priya reminded a third time.

"U-Uh, I'm sorry." Raivis gulped and decided to keep his mouth shut before he dug himself an even deeper grave. "It's just that I've never had a girl this close to me before. Not that there had been a guy, either. Eek! Not that there's anything wrong with a guy being this close to me."

"Raivis." Angélique looked at the sorry excuse of a man, "Calm down."

"Y-Yes, ma'am." Raivis nodded, this time for sure, he was going to keep his mouth shut.

"Hello, what can I help you with? Oh, it's you, Arthur. What seems to be the problem?"

Arthur blinked, "Eduard? You work here?"

"Yeah, I do. Just recently, though." The man, Eduard, smiled.

"You know this guy?" Angélique asked, a bit shocked that Arthur had friends outside the council because he wasn't exactly popular with the people at school.

"We're neighbours." Arthur explained to Angélique before turning back to Eduard and holding out his phone. "You see, one of my schoolmates threw it and now, it wouldn't turn on."

"Hmm," Eduard took the phone from Arthur and inspected it. "I don't know, it's a bit hard to tell without opening it up. You should return in a few days."

"_A few days?_" Arthur gasped, making both Raivis and Eduard to flinch at his raised voice.

"Yeah..." Eduard, who was taller than Arthur, seemed to suddenly shrink. "But I could deliver it to your home if I ever finish it earlier."

"Ah, no..." Arthur shook his head, calmer now. "That's all right. I'll be back in a few days—just don't ever mention it to my brothers or sister, please?"

"All right." Eduard nodded, smiling. "Don't worry, I'll fix your phone."

"Thank you." Arthur returned the smile. "Well, we'll be off."

"Bye." Eduard responded, smiling, before heading back to the back room.

"All right, let's go get us some doughnuts!" Angélique cheered, turning away from the shop to leave.

"All right, all right." Arthur sighed, he could spare an hour of lounging around.

xxxxx

"Artie, you've barely known the guy for half a year, let alone half that and you act as if you can't live with out him." Angélique rolled her eyes, "It's just a few days."

They were currently in a Dunkin Donuts. Arthur wouldn't admit it out loud but he liked sweets and chocolate—but that it was a bit obvious when he ordered a large chocolate drink and two sugar frosted doughnuts.

"How have you been fairing with school so far, Raivis?" Arthur asked the quiet boy, completely ignoring Angélique and her teasing.

Beside him, Angélique pouted at being ignored and contemplated whether throwing her doughnut at Arthur to get his attention or not. She decided against it a moment later, Arthur wasn't worth a doughnut.

"O-Oh, the teachers are nice." Raivis answered truthfully, "My English teacher seems to be a pervert, though. And crazy. He refers to himself as Jacob Black, you know, from Twilight? Sometimes he even calls himself as Bruno Mars—and it's just been one meeting with him."

"Just ignore that and you'll do fine." Priya advised, "He was my teacher, too. When he attacks you with his teasing, just play along and once it's over, toss the memories away like Kleenex."

"He's a handful teacher." Arthur nodded, "He's rarely ever serious, if you ask me."

Angélique sighed loudly, trying to get their attention. When no one bothered to acknowledged her, she finally spoke aloud. "Oh, dear me, was the only one who realised that phone shop guy was eyeing Raivis?"

Raivis spat out the orange punch he was drinking, luckily it didn't hit anyone directly and they found it more funny than gross. At least, the girls did. Arthur was crinkling his nose.

"Angé, stop teasing him." Arthur scolded, trying to put his mind away from the liquid that Raivis had gracefully spat out. "Don't make things up."

"I'm not, he totally was." Angélique pouted at Arthur, "I can't believe you think I'd make something up like that."

"It isn't the first time you did." Arthur rolled his eyes, "Look, you've got Raivis even more nervous."

Raivis quickly shook his head, "I-It's all right, Arthur-"

"Well, it's true this time." Angélique stated with a small huff. "And I'm only pointing it out because you're ignoring me."

"Because if I didn't, I'd be wasting my time." Arthur frowned. "Honestly, Angé, don't you have anything else to talk about that other people's personal affairs?"

"Um..." Raivis hummed, quickly shrinking into the background as Arthur and Angélique began squabbling again. Priya smiled at him and he continued drinking what was left of his punch. Well, he was comfortable with how things were.

But the possibility of it being true, that made Raivis blush. No one really noticed him and he wasn't entirely sure if he fancied the thought of a guy checking him out but he wasn't disgusted either.

"I'm not Feliks, don't classify me with him." Arthur sniffed, "And I just don't want to talk about it—is it so hard to understand that I want privacy?"

"Really, Arthur, there's no such thing as privacy between friends." Angélique grinned.

"Angé, you've been spending too much time with Elizabeta and Feliks, that's unhealthy." Arthur frowned, clearly not amused.

Angélique sighed, giving up in trying to let Arthur dish. "If only you could memorize his number, you could still communicate with him."

"Like hell I would store his number in any of your cellphones." Arthur grunted, "I'm not that stupid."

"Have you made any other friends so far, Raivis?" Priya asked, ignoring her two bickering friends.

Raivis looked up at the kind girl and looked back down, embarrassed. "W-Well, not really... Most my classmates have their own thing and being a volunteer representative isn't something that's positively popular, for some reason."

Priya laughed, "Oh, I see. Well, you'll get the hang of it soon. It's only been a few days. If not, you can always hang around the council room. Mei-Mei and Chun-Chun always have snacks available."

"I'll take note of that." Raivis nodded then looked back at Arthur and Angélique worriedly. "Does this happen often?"

"Quite often than not." Priya sighed with a small smile. "But it's nothing serious. It happens a lot within the council—you should've been there yesterday. Or may be not, yesterday's incident might scare you if you were there. But it's all fun. They're great people."

"All right." Raivis nodded, taking her word for it. Priya had been the kindest to him ever since classes started and he didn't think she was liar.

"So, Raivis, what do you think about that phone shop guy?" Priya asked innocently.

Raivis nearly choked on his drink. "What?"

"Well, I was just wondering." Priya shrugged.

"W-Well... nothing, t-to be honest." Raivis looked down and fiddled with his straw. "He was tall, I guess. He looked neat and clean, but I guess people who work in the mall should be. He seemed nice and he knows Arthur. So, he really must nice since Arthur's nice. And um, well, he's tall."

Priya sighed with a light shake of her head, Raivis suddenly feared if he might've said something wrong. "Dear Raivis, you are too innocent."

"E-Excuse me?"

"Oh, don't worry about it. We're going to help you fix that."

**TO BE CONTINUED**

**Author's Note: **Thank you for all those who reviewed and placed this story on their alerts! I'm touched that people still read this~ Thank you for reading this chapter, as well! And I'm really sorry for another rather long update.

And yes, the other pairing is Estonia and Latvia. I tried to make Latvia word vomit a lot because it's really adorable when he does, like Finland. x3

Shameless promotion-Please check out my other Hetalia fics as well: _**Kiss Me Here**_, _**Minty Fresh**_, _**Melt**_, _**The Big News: Alfred & Arthur**_, _**World's End**_, _**The Big News: Francis & Matthieu**_, _**Nightmare**_, _**Choco Choco**_, _**Hung for Hungary**_, _**Just Another Meeting**_, _**Password Error**_, _**Creamed Trousers**_, _**The Best Man**_, _**Ring Tone**_, _**Concerned Brother**_, _**Happy Camping**_, _**Alfred's Hangover**_, _**Taste of Love**_, _**Possessive**_, _**Fetish**_, _**Lovino's Favourite Cap**_, _**Tokimeki Memorial World Edition**_, _**Public Display of Affection**_, _**Dragon of The Sea**_, _**Coffee & Tea: A Hundred Day Challenge**_, _**Cupcake **_and _**Broken Bones**_


	5. Chapter Four: Sneak Out

**Title:** Wilted Rose

**Series:** Axis Powers Hetalia

**Pairing: **America & England / Alfred & Arthur

**Rating: **T

**Genre: **Romance, Humour, Drama

**Warning:** Shounen-Ai, Human Names, Alternate Universe, Minor, Original Character

**Disclaimer:** This is a work of fiction by a fan for fans. Axis Powers Hetalia rightfully belongs to Hidekaz Himaruya.

**Chapter Four:** Sneak Out

Armed with a BigMac, extra-large fries and a large milk shake, Marguerite charged through the halls of ALiEN Co. in her school uniform and black flats, determination on her face as if she were born with it. All eyes were on her, hope and relief within each pair—they looked at her as if she were a hero from an epic tale to save them all from a dragon.

"No! Urgh!" Marguerite winced as she paused two doors away from her brother's office, hearing his voice clearly even from the distance.

She knew from years of experience that Alfred had one terrible temper and she also knew that almost _nothing _ever got to her carefree brother; he faced the world with a smile even if they were mocking him and he never noticed he was being mocked. He rarely got riled up and Marguerite hoped that the BigMac was going fix things.

If it didn't, she had already called Matthieu to back her up.

She passed by the desk of her brother's secretary and stopped on her tracks. She usually gave Toris a smile whenever she would come by however, today Marguerite gave him an incredulous look as Toris smiled weakly back at her while rearranging his desk—no, cleaning his already clean desk.

"Toris, what the hell are you doing?" Marguerite asked, although it sounded more like a statement than a question. At the pit of her stomach, she had a sick feeling of what had happened but she loved Alfred and that meant she had to give him the benefit of doubt.

"Good morning, Miss Marguerite." Toris replied weakly, clutching a bunch of papers in his hands. Feeling small under the strong gaze of a very much younger girl who was most likely two times physically stronger than he was, Toris gulped audibly before nervously chuckling, "I got fired. How was sch-"

"The hell you are!" Marguerite snapped, almost crushing the Styrofoam cup in her hand and making Toris feel as if he were the size of an ant. "For the love of all that is holy in the world, who would fire you?"

"M-M-My b-b-b-"

"Is that... whipped cream on your hair?" Marguerite interrupted, her eyes focused on his unusually unruly and soaked hair.

"I-It is-"

"Holy—did he throw Starbucks on you?" Marguerite gasped, as if it were the most unholy thing in the world. "That jerk!"

"M-M-Miss-" Toris called weakly but Marguerite was already stomping towards her brother's office, resembling very much a fire breathing dragon. "_Sudas_."

"You jerk!" Toris cringed when he heard the sound of a door being kicked open and Marguerite's loud voice cursing at her brother. With the speed and efficiency he was famous and hired for, Toris resumed cleaning his desk before he would be subjected to another round of yells from either of the siblings.

"How could you fire Toris like that?"

"Maggie, not now. I don't need-"

"You even threw coffee at him! What the hell is wrong with you?" Marguerite frowned and was too close to throwing the food she brought at her brother. "Like, who are you and what did you do to my brother?"

Alfred brought a hand to his forehead, about to yell at his sister but decided to snap it shut before he'd fire her out of his life. He let out a frustrated groan which sounded more like a growl and turned his chair around so that he was facing the wall instead of his sister.

"God, Maggie, not now." Alfred snapped but Marguerite could hear the desperation beneath the heat.

Marguerite sighed and closed the door before walking over to her brother's desk; she placed down the food and sat on one of the empty chairs. "All right, tell me what's wrong?"

"I thought you were leaving." Alfred replied, massaging his temples as he tried to keep his head cool. He had already snapped at his sister and that was one time too many for his liking.

"You aren't exactly the brightest bulb in the family." Marguerite muttered under her breath with a roll of her eyes before saying, "Well, you thought wrong."

"Maggie, sweetheart, I want to be alone." Alfred hissed out a breath.

"Too bad, it's not in my job description as a sister." Marguerite frowned, "Just to make it clear, I'm not leaving until you tell me what's gotten into you so that I can find a way to fix things before you fire everyone in this building."

Nearly past his limit of self-control, Alfred turned his chair around to tell his sister to get out before he did something they both will regret but just as soon as he opened his mouth, she shoved a BigMac into it.

"There's only two ways we can go about this—the hard way or my way." Marguerite said, crossing her arms over her chest. "And I always get what I want, so spare us both the trouble of being stubborn and an idiot—"

Alfred glared at his little sister and spat out the burger after taking a bite, of course. "I am _not_ an idiot!"

"Oh, so firing Toris was _such_ a smart move." Marguerite said sarcastically. "If Mom ever finds out-"

"I'm not a kid, Maggie! I'm not scared of-"

"Because what you did isn't childish-"

"And kicking my door, yelling like some kind of-"

"I'm eighteen; I have the right to be childish." Marguerite held out her hand, unimpressed by her brother's arguments. "I bet this has everything to do with that stupid call-"

"It's not stupid-"

"Aha!" Marguerite grinned, looking very much like a cat. "So, it _is_ about that call."

Alfred glared at the grin his sister wore; he always had a bad feeling whenever he was the recipient. Whenever she pulled out that look, it meant that she had an upper hand of whatever or wherever the conversation was going and usually, Alfred didn't like where it led to.

"Maggie-"

"What happened?" Marguerite asked, her tone now almost motherly and warm as she went around her brother's desk to stand beside him. "Were your calls ever returned? A text message, at least?"

Alfred pouted, he was the older brother, he didn't need to be treated like the baby (like that other night when he cried like one while Marguerite held him). He folded his arms on his chest, puffing it out a bit when he told her, "I'm a busy man, Maggie. I've got work-"

"Work shmerk. Uncle won't mind it if you cut back for his favourite niece." Marguerite waved her hand dismissingly at the papers and folders on her brother's desk. "I'm just gonna pull the gun here-you never got a return call, did you?"

"I've been busy, I haven't been able to check my phone so-"

"Bullshit."

"Maggie! Watch the language!"

"All right, all right, bullcrap." Marguerite rolled her eyes before placing a hand on her brother's shoulder. "What's really bothering you, Al?"

After a few moments of silence and contemplation, Alfred finally sighed, "Maggie, I'm just… worried, you know? I mean, I get it if… we break up or something—not that, we are together or anything… I don't really know. But… we got along wonderfully. And I don't… Urgh…"

Alfred shook his head and let out a heavier sigh, "I'm just worried, I guess. Something bad might've happened… This sorta thing… It never happened before. I'd usually get a call or text after… but, Maggie, it's been _days_ and still… nada."

Alfred groaned, closing his eyes and the horrors of whatever could have happened to Arthur flashed rapidly in his head. "I'm losing my head, Maggie. I don't know what to do."

Marguerite sucked in her breath when she saw how vulnerable and weak her big and strong brother looked. There had only been one instance when he looked nearly as miserable and she had promised herself that she would never want to see him that way ever again. She knew she had to do _something_.

"Want to sneak out?"

"What?" Alfred gasped and looked up at his grinning sister. "Maggie, I don't… I haven't snuck out since I was in high school… I… can't…"

"Yes, you can." Marguerite whispered, casting a glance at the door as if someone would come in and catch then. "I'll help."

"What?" Alfred coughed and immediately, the image of a certain Englishman appeared in his head. The thought of just flying out and-

"Look, I know even Uncle won't like it if you take a sudden weekend vacation just after you took a longer one. So, I've got a plan—"

"You have a plan?" Alfred gasped, sounding more relieved than shocked, just as the door opened and both siblings turned their heads to see who arrived.

"Where's Toris?" Matthieu asked as he closed the door behind him. He walked over to the sofa in Alfred's office and placed his bag and art books on it. When he looked up to his siblings, he felt small under Marguerite's signature grin. "Um… I should head home… first."

"Hold it, Mattie." Marguerite snapped, her grin widening even further. She turned to Alfred, "Since Mattie and I love you, we want to help you—"

"No, we don't!" Matthieu shook his head, knowing very well that this was not going to end well for him.

"Shush." Marguerite waved her hand at Matthieu without looking at him, "So, here's my plan. You, dear brother, will go clear your head while Mattie and I will man the fort here."

"But—"

"No buts." Marguerite took Alfred's hand in hers gently, "Alfie, you can't go on like this. You said so yourself—Cadbury sundaes. Love makes the world go 'round and all that crap. Even Aladdin got Jasmine."

"What does Aladdin have to do with anything?" Matthieu muttered but was easily ignored.

"But…" Alfred looked down, frowning. He couldn't sneak out, he was a responsible adult. He was no longer a child who could just run away and raise hell without a care. He had bills to pay, papers to sign, reports to make—oh, but just to see and _hold _Arthur after all this time, to know if he was all right or not, and if he could do anything to help… now, _that_ was worth all and everything.

"I'm taking that shit-eating grin means yes." Marguerite nodded, grinning and proud. Then she turned to Matthieu, "Mattie, strip."

"What?" Matthieu gasped, nearly shrieked. "Maggie! You brought me all the way here, force me into cooperating with your whacked out plan and now you want me to strip?"

"Duh." Marguerite dead panned, "Now, strip before I do it for you."

Matthieu growled, glaring at his sister but stripped anyway. Minutes later, Matthieu stood behind Alfred's desk wearing his suit while Alfred stood across him wearing Matthieu's clothes and holding Matthieu's beloved stuffed animal in his arms.

"No one will know the difference." Marguerite grinned, clapping her hands. Then she took Alfred's Blackberry from the table and handed it to him, "All right, Al, you really have to go 'cause I already booked your ticket and the plane leaves in an hour and a half."

"You are the best sister in the world." Alfred grinned, in a much better mood now as he embraced and pecked Marguerite. Then he ran to Matthieu and embraced him.

"I can do without the kissing." Matthieu quickly said with a small smile.

Alfred grinned at him, "Thanks, bro. I know you don't want to and—"

"Just get going, Al." Matthieu said and playfully pushed Alfred off him.

"I owe you guys a shit ton." Alfred grinned at his siblings before running out of the room as if he was on fire.

Now alone with his sister, Matthieu turned to her, "Just so you know I'm not happy."

"Aw, come on, Mattie, we're doing this for amour!" Marguerite grinned while Matthieu grunted. She elbowed him playfully, "Aw, come on, even you have to think that was highly amusing—since when did Al look that bright in days?"

Matthieu sighed, "All right, I admit it's amusing—but that doesn't mean I like your plan. I'm never doing this again, got that?"

Marguerite merely grinned as she wrapped her arm around her brother's. "Come on; let's go find a way to get Toris his job back."

**TO BE CONTINUED**

**Author's Note: **Thank you for _everyone _who reviewed and read this. To all you readers, I'm _really _sorry for not updating this sooner. Many things just happened, one of them is me slipping out of the Hetalia fandom for a bit and to soak myself into the beauty that is Stony, Superhusband and Superfamily.)

_**PLEASE, LEAVE A REVIEW~ I want to know if there are still people reading this (and want this to be continued or something). 8D **(And it's easier now, the review thing is just below!)_

My cousin (_**kiorikono123**_) recently made her first fic (and she didn't tell me about it, meanie!), it's a cute, fluffy fic called _**Unexpected Intention**_, it's about America, England and hill climbing! Please go and read it!

Shameless promotion—please check out my other Hetalia fics as well: _**Kiss Me Here**_, _**Minty Fresh**_, _**Melt**_, _**The Big News: Alfred & Arthur**_, _**World's End**_, _**The Big News: Francis & Matthieu**_, _**Nightmare**_, _**Choco Choco**_, _**Hung for Hungary**_, _**Just Another Meeting**_, _**Password Error**_, _**Creamed Trousers**_, _**The Best Man**_, _**Ring Tone**_, _**Concerned Brother**_, _**Happy Camping**_, _**Alfred's Hangover**_, _**Taste of Love**_, _**Possessive**_, _**Fetish**_, _**Lovino's Favourite Cap**_, _**Tokimeki Memorial World Edition**_, _**Public Display of Affection**_, _**Dragon of the Sea**_, _**Coffee & Tea: A Hundred Day Challenge**_, _**Cupcake**_, _**Broken Bones**_ and _**Alarm Clock**_


	6. Chapter Five: Inbox 198

**Title:** Wilted Rose

**Series:** Axis Powers Hetalia

**Pairing: **America & England / Alfred & Arthur

**Rating: **T

**Genre: **Romance, Humour, Drama

**Warning:** Shounen-Ai, Human Names, Alternate Universe, Minor, Original Character

**Disclaimer:** This is a work of fiction by a fan for fans. Axis Powers Hetalia rightfully belongs to Hidekaz Himaruya.

**Chapter Five:** Inbox (198)

Arthur tapped the butt end of his pencil on the table and looked from the teacher to the wall clock above the blackboard. He suppressed a scowl when the damned clock hadn't moved since he last checked; instead he let out a small _tsk_ and looked back at the teacher.

The tapping had gotten louder, faster and his pencil was snatched away by a glaring Angélique. Arthur scowled at her but she easily ignored him and placed his pencil far away from him.

"Give me that back!" Arthur hissed low-enough only she could hear.

"No way, you're annoying." Angélique replied stubbornly with a shake of her head. "You weren't even taking notes, anyway."

Arthur opened his mouth to tell Angélique off but was silenced by a quick look from the teacher. He slightly bowed his head and backed off from her just as she stuck her tongue out at him. He rolled his eyes at her childishness and looked back to the blackboard. Two seconds later, he was looking back at the wall clock.

A sigh came out of his lips when he saw that the minute hand had moved. One minute closer to the end of class and the end of school for the week. He drummed his fingers on his knee and absently stared at his teacher, wishing she would just dismiss the class because no one was really listening anyway.

_I miss you so bad, Artie._

Arthur blushed, bending his head down a little and tried to cover his red cheeks with his hand. It had been four days since that unfortunate incident where his phone had been destroyed, three days since he had left it with the shop and four hours since Eduard had sent him a message on Priya's phone that his phone was fixed. He quickly glanced up at the wall clock again and looked back down. There was only fourteen minutes left of the day and he was getting a little bit impatient.

A low groan escaped him before he could stop himself as he thought of Alfred. He had been a great guy—a bit too loud, over excited and too friendly but Arthur couldn't deny the fun he had during the summer. Of course, there was that problem of Alfred invading his personal space and stealing a couple of kisses here and there but he had stopped after a couple of days.

Arthur couldn't deny his attraction to Alfred the moment they met at the parking lot and he tried so hard not to appear childish, he tried to act like a mature adult but he usually ended up making a fool of himself.

_You know, you look cute when you're pissed._

Arthur very nearly slammed his head down on the desk at the memory. He had a hissy fit over something stupid but Alfred just laughed it off and even complimented him but what did he do? He had another hissy fit, only this time it was aimed at the American. It hadn't been a onetime thing, too. It happened a number of times and Alfred would just laugh it off every time, sometimes even bribing Arthur with McDonalds, which never worked.

_What if he's had enough?_

Arthur mentally choked at the thought. It had been four days since they had last communicated, their last conversation had been during his lunch period but he had been really busy that he rarely replied to any of Alfred's messages since school started.

Alfred might have already gotten over him, Arthur groaned. He was an adult, he had a stable job and he had his adult friends that were most definitely better than a scrawny teenage kid with a temper problem—a teenage kid who needed to be paid for during their outings. Good god, it was like having a kid brother! Happy meals, the zoo and heck, fishing—it was like father and son summer bonding!

_Slam!_

_Oh shite. _Arthur gulped, looking at the hand he slammed down on the table when he was too caught up in his thoughts. The entire class went silent as they all stared at him and even their teacher had stopped her lecture to look at him. Without looking beside him, he knew Angélique was trying not to grin.

"Mr. Kirkland." Arthur flinched when he heard his teacher's sharp tone. "I had already told you and everyone in this class how much I dislike being interrupted."

"Er, I apologise, ma'am." He quickly muttered, feeling two inches tall and wanting to bury himself. "I-It won't happen again."

"Yes and please don't let your mind wander during my class." His teacher added before resuming her lecture about trees and climate change.

Arthur let out a small sigh but he wasn't sure if it was for being relieved for not getting detention or for being dejected over his thoughts concerning Alfred. He had never been called out in class before, he had never broken a rule in school and he should've felt bad, panicked even, that he had broken the rules for the first time but he didn't. He had even forgotten about the teacher already and his thoughts were back to a certain American that, he was convinced, hated him and would never talk to him ever again.

The sound of the dismissal bell echoed throughout the school and snapped Arthur from his thoughts. He looked around and saw that his classmates were already packing their things while some were already out the door but as impatient as he was just a while ago, he was now just as scared to leave the classroom and go to the mall to retrieve his cell phone.

Angélique poked his cheek using his pencil and giggled when he glared at her. "Come on, Artie. I know you're just _dying _to get your phone back."

Before he could speak, Angélique had pulled him off his chair and was dragging him out the classroom. "Thanks for the class, Ms. Serena!"

"You're welcome, Ms. Bonnefoy. Have a nice weekend." Their teacher replied with a smile then resumed packing her things.

"Will do, Miss Serena!" Angélique giggled before finally leaving the room with Arthur. "Artie, what's with the scowl? It's time to head to the—oh, shoot. I still have Art class. Damn."

Arthur sighed, he didn't need Angélique to go with him to the mall and in fact, he hadn't wanted anyone to go with him but now that he had his doubts, he wanted at least one friend to go with him when he would turn his cell phone on and read the messages.

Sensing her friend's unusual discomfort, Angélique took out her cell phone and began to text Priya, "But don't worry! I'm sure Pri's done with her classes, she'll go with you so she can tell me everything tomorrow."

"Hey!" Arthur flinched at the loud, cheerful voice and was almost too afraid to turn to the owner of said voice.

"Hi, Beta." Angélique smiled at their upperclassman and at Raivis, who was quietly following Elizabeta.

"It's a good thing we caught up to you." Elizabeta grinned and pulled Raivis to her side, her arm around his shoulders. "Raivis has phone problems and I'm getting good vibes from you."

Forgetting about Alfred for a moment, Arthur grunted when Elizabeta looked at him. "Don't you have reports to do?"

"I'll do that later—priorities, Artie, priorities." Elizabeta laughed then patted Raivis' shoulder, "So, it's settled then?"

"I hope you don't mind." Raivis quietly spoke, slightly shaking.

"Of course not, you're welcome to come along, Raivis." Arthur responded kindly at the shorter male before glaring at Elizabeta, "However, I can't say the same for Elizabeta—you have reports to submit. I refuse to do your work—"

"Don't worry, Artie—"

"It's Arthur!"

"—got it all taken care of."

Angélique clicked her tongue, "Well, since you all have got it settled, I'll be heading to my class. Adieu."

"I'll call you later." Elizabeta grinned as she waved Angélique goodbye.

"Sure." Angélique grinned excitedly, "Oh, and Priya's waiting by the gates."

Arthur sighed, giving up the losing battle knowing how stubborn Elizabeta could be. He saw the nervous smile Raivis offered him and he forced himself to smile for the both of them. Standing beside Elizabeta, the freshman looked even shorter and more frightened; Arthur could only hope that the young lad wouldn't be traumatized by anything their council president would do.

"Well, let's go!" Elizabeta cheered too excitedly for Arthur's tastes.

xxxxx

By the time they had arrived at the mall, Priya had successfully routed Elizabeta's attention towards her. How she managed to do it, no one knew but Arthur and Raivis were grateful.

Unless Elizabeta talked to him, Raivis wasn't much of a talker. He preferred to fidget and look around cautiously. Arthur was sure this was something the young lad had to fix or needed help with but he was too caught up in his own worries to really worry about anyone else at that moment.

"Hey, Arthur!" Eduard perked up when he saw the group approach his shop. He quickly ducked down, looking for Arthur's phone in one of the shelves. He emerged a couple minutes later with a box in hand. "Good news, she's as good as new."

Arthur tried to smile as Eduard took out his phone and handed it to him. He held his phone and simply stared at it, he didn't make a move to turn it on or anything.

"Arthur?" Eduard called, tempted to wave his hand over his friend's face.

"He's fine, he's just happy he got his phone back." Elizabeta laughed and gave Arthur a hard pat on the back. "Snap out of it, Artie! And just turn that thing on!"

"Oh," Eduard spoke up and looked nervous, "Um, see that's the bad news. It ran out of juice so, he has to charge it at home first."

Elizabeta frowned while Arthur sighed in relief. "What? And I wanted to read the messages, too."

Eduard chuckled nervously at the loud girl and turned his attention back to Arthur, "If there's anything wrong with it just come back or stop by my place."

"You live alone?"

Eduard blinked, shocked at the question as he looked at Elizabeta and answered, "Oh, um, yes, I live alone."

"Oh, I see." Elizabeta nodded absently but cast a knowing look at her male companions. "Good, _very_ good."

"Uh, thanks, Eduard." Arthur finally spoke as he pocketed his phone, "I'll let you know if there are any problems."

"You're welcome." Eduard smiled genuinely at his friend.

"Hey, Raivis, didn't you have a problem with your phone, too?" Priya asked with a light nudge.

"Oh, yes, I do." Raivis nodded at the taller girl and stepped up towards the counter. "Um, e-excuse me…?"

"Yes?" Eduard turned to Raivis.

Raivis placed his phone on the counter, his cheeks lightly flushed red, "I-It won't turn on." He gulped, closing his eyes as he did. "I-I had it charged because I thought it was the batteries but it didn't work. I bought a new battery but it still didn't work. I charged the new battery but it still didn't work. And then I—uh, nothing works."

"Did you drop it or something?" Eduard asked as he inspected the small black phone.

"No, I didn't—um, the cat. It was the cat." Raivis looked down, embarrassed. "The cat jumped on the bed and the phone fell…"

"All right, I'll just see what I can do." Eduard smiled, "Give me a few days or so. You can come back here after a week."

Raivis quickly nodded, "Okay. Thank you!"

Elizabeta grinned happily from behind Raivis and shared a private joke with Priya. Arthur paid Eduard his due and the group left. Upon Elizabeta's insistence, the four of them found themselves sipping refreshments in one of the nearby cafes.

"I can't wait for that new café near the school to open." Priya said excitedly, "Emma just can't keep shut about it."

"I know, she even got me excited." Elizabeta rolled her eyes.

His pocket felt as if it weighed a ton. Arthur had a small urge to throw his cell phone away but that meant he was a coward and he liked to believe that he wasn't. With a heavy sigh, he placed his drink down and leaned back on the chair.

Elizabeta grinned at Arthur's direction before turning to Priya and jabbed her thumb at him, "He is _so _not happy I'm keeping him here." Then she turned to face him, "Artie, would you relax? An hour won't make a big difference and besides, we're here to celebrate for Raivis."

"What?" Raivis snapped his head up, looking like a deer caught in the headlights.

"Oh, you don't have to hide it, Raivis." Elizabeta smiled at him almost motherly as she patted his shoulder, "We're supportive of your cause, nothing to be ashamed of. We can clearly see you have a thing for that phone guy."

"W-What?" Raivis very nearly crushed the drink he held in his hands, "N-No! H-How… That is… I-I… Y-You… I-It… No!"

Pitying the younger boy, Arthur gave his senior a look. "Oh, belt up, Elizabeta. You're going to scare away future volunteers."

"Fine." Elizabeta crossed her arms with a small pout, then she muttered, "But it's true."

Red faced and looking down, Raivis nervously spoke, "I-It's not true… T-Thank you, Arthur."

Arthur sighed with a small shake of his head while Priya patted Raivis' shoulder, trying to calm the boy down. Elizabeta embraced the shy boy moments later and bribed him with cheesecakes and brownies before they left and went their separate ways.

"Arthur, what's wrong?" Priya asked later when the both of them were walking home together. "You're not usually this silent."

"It's nothing, love."

"I've known you for so long to know that you're lying." Priya frowned and lightly nudged him with her elbow. "Now, tell me."

Arthur sighed and after a couple of minutes trying to ignore his friend's stare, he gave in. "It's nothing. I'm worrying over nothing because there's nothing, not anymore. He probably thinks I'm an annoying kid and has long forgotten about me."

"Now where did that come from?" Priya wrapped her arm around Arthur's and pressed herself to him in a sisterly manner. "Artie, I have no clue where you got that crazy idea but if he did forget you then he doesn't know what he's missed. You're a great guy, don't think otherwise."

Arthur groaned and shook his head, "You are not helping me."

"It's true!" Priya pouted, "I'm saying it from the bottom of my heart. Arthur, there are more fish in the sea. _Bigger _and _better _fish."

"Priya!" Arthur exclaimed and pulled himself away from his friend, quickly walking ahead of her. "Stop! Stop! That is not—Oh, good god."

Priya laughed and quickly caught up with him, "Oh, come on. It's true."

"No, Priya, just… no."

"Wait, are you telling me you… saw his man root?" Priya burst into a fit of giggles, unable to stop herself.

"Bloody hell, shut up!"

xxxxx

Arthur let out a huge sigh of relief after he locked the door behind him. He was finally in the safety and privacy of his own room and Priya, that annoying chit, was out there in the living room having tea with his Grandmother.

"_Arthur, come here, lad. I made some of your favourite scones."_

Arthur slapped a hand to his face and groaned from embarrassment, "Yes, Grandmother. I'll be out in a moment."

Forgetting about his fears for one minute, he plugged his cell phone to its charger and left the room with his hands sweating. It was hours later, after dinner when he was able to return to his room. He had actually been trying to avoid returning to his room but now, he had no reason to stay out of it else his Mum might think something was wrong with him.

He inhaled deeply and charged towards his cell phone. He unplugged it and with shaking, sweating hands, he turned it on only to toss it on his bed when the start-up tone rang. By that time, he was panting as if he had ran a dozen laps around the school's soccer field.

"Calm down, you idiot!" Arthur hissed at himself but squeaked when the blasted phone rang.

**YOU GOT ONE MESSAGE**

Arthur gulped and slowly approached his bed, telling himself that he was being an idiot. He cautiously took his phone and gaped at the small screen.

"Bloody hell."

_(Inbox) Alfred Jones_

_198 Messages_

Before even a coherent thought could cross his mind, his phone rang and this time, he shrieked, throwing his phone back on the bed.

_Alfred Jones_

_Calling_

**TO BE CONTINUED**

**Author's Note: **Thanks for the reviews and faves, guys! And that 198 messages in the inbox happened in real life. O.O I'm already excited for the next chapter! 8D Oh, I've also got a new tumblr (**seri-kun** dot **tumblr** dot **com**)!

**Guys, leave a review or concrit! 'Till the next chapter!**

Shameless promotion—please check out my other Hetalia fics as well: _**Kiss Me Here**_, _**Minty Fresh**_, _**Melt**_, _**The Big News: Alfred & Arthur**_, _**World's End**_, _**The Big News: Francis & Matthieu**_, _**Nightmare**_, _**Choco Choco**_, _**Hung for Hungary**_, _**Just Another Meeting**_, _**Password Error**_, _**Creamed Trousers**_, _**The Best Man**_, _**Ring Tone**_, _**Concerned Brother**_, _**Happy Camping**_, _**Alfred's Hangover**_, _**Taste of Love**_, _**Possessive**_, _**Fetish**_, _**Lovino's Favourite Cap**_, _**Tokimeki Memorial World Edition**_, _**Public Display of Affection**_, _**Dragon of the Sea**_, _**Coffee & Tea: A Hundred Day Challenge**_, _**Cupcake**_, _**Broken Bones**_, _**Alarm**_ _**Clock**_, _**Cadbury**_ _**Chocolate**_, _**Broken**_ _**Vows**_ and _**Cat**_ _**Food**_


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